tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post602884051553355891..comments2024-03-28T15:07:22.673+05:30Comments on Shoot First, Mumble Later: Hugo and The Avengers: A kind of magicGirish Shahanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-32413149515798200762012-05-26T11:22:13.792+05:302012-05-26T11:22:13.792+05:30And Adrian, thanks for the link about not rising f...And Adrian, thanks for the link about not rising for toasts. We had such a basic invocation at LMH, maybe there would've been more consternation had it been an elaborate prayer like at St.John's. Though I dined at St.John's a couple of times, and none of the non-Christians seemed to have a problem with standing.<br />I also, of course, didn't stand for the toast to old Cecil Rhodes at the final formal dinner; a couple of people at my table joined me for that one. Though the Scholarship is pretty embarrassed about the man, they just toast 'The Benefactor' or something like that and, of course, the Queen.Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-19265049604836873932012-05-26T11:16:49.965+05:302012-05-26T11:16:49.965+05:30Adrian, I read your post on Hugo, of course. Didn&...Adrian, I read your post on Hugo, of course. Didn't comment then because Hugo wasn't released in India in conjunction with its international rollout. I think the distributors here fell for the idea that it's a childrens' film and waited for the summer vacation. <br />Plenty of other friends whose views I respect have disliked Hugo, too. I can see why, and I've sort of indicated that in my post. Everything said about the plot's deficiencies is pretty apparent. My question is, would someone like Scorsese not see those deficiencies, and be able to work around them? Of course he could, and would. That's why I suggest he decided to *emphasise* those deficiencies by heightening the old-fashioned feel of the entire narrative (the Brit accents, stilted speech etc). This he did to provide that cutting-edge / dated, magic / nostalgia combination.<br />Now, it's entirely possible that a given viewer will miss the magic, in which case they won't catch the nostalgia either, because then it will seem just an old-fashioned story riddled with holes rather than a self-conscious retelling of an old-fashioned story riddled with holes and absurd coincidences that enraptured us when we were children which, when paired with the marvellous use of sets, special effects and 3-D, returns us to the same feeling of being enraptured.<br />Everything hinges on how entranced one is by the opening scenes; if you're hooked then, you stay hooked; if you aren't hooked, the film just starts mildly interesting and gets progressively worse.<br />In my case, my appreciation had little to do with Melies; I was fascinated long before he was revealed to be who he was. Of course, in my interpretation, it's important for him to be Melies so the film then self-reflexively comments on its own inevitable obsolescence, adding one extra layer to the magic / nostalgia formula.<br /><br />As far as the 3-D making you nauseous goes, I think your local theatre is diddling you; you've mentioned more than one 3-D film that made you feel that way, and they looked perfectly fine where I watched them.Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-46787257908061457822012-05-26T11:01:36.466+05:302012-05-26T11:01:36.466+05:30Also, a lot of people have been raving about that ...Also, a lot of people have been raving about that opening shot. It might have been more impressive if all the people you see in the station weren't computer generated. The camera rushes past them but they seem to have the waxy look of Tintin's characters.<br /><br />VSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-17126093245429371342012-05-26T10:55:23.818+05:302012-05-26T10:55:23.818+05:30I agree with Adrian. Found Hugo's storytelling...I agree with Adrian. Found Hugo's storytelling rhythms to be very stale, and the dialogue and screenplay very stilted and cliched. Kind of like it was force-feeding the viewer the sense of wide-eyed wonder that it was trying to be about. A good indication to me that the storytelling was shaky was the use of background score - once you realise how constant and obvious the use of music is, it gets exhausting to watch the movie.<br /><br />VSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-82700190924589681752012-05-26T08:49:19.056+05:302012-05-26T08:49:19.056+05:30Girish
I hated Hugo. The 3D made me nauseous and...Girish <br /><br />I hated Hugo. The 3D made me nauseous and I found the plot to be pretty boring and illogical (to take one example, if he faked his own death in WW1, how did the returning soldiers reject his post WW1 movies?) I thought the male lead was an uncharismatic child actor and but for Sasha Baron Cohen's John Cleese rip off performance I would have been out of there. I think you're right about who the film was for: film buffs. Scorsese very cleverly and deliberately made it critic proof with the Melies stuff and few critics realised that the whole Melies plot was a McGuffin with no bearing on the rest of the story; but by including it it meant that if you didnt like Hugo you could only be a vulgar boor who knew nothing about the history of cinema. Well played Mr. Scorsese, well played. <br /><br />I thought you might like this piece from Will Self: <br /><br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18205999<br /><br />It reminded me of your defiant stamp at Oxford in a sea of apathy and conformity.adrian mckintyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03349942973907386269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-19790651381866554682012-05-24T12:37:18.906+05:302012-05-24T12:37:18.906+05:30Thanks, VV. Can you believe they almost didn't...Thanks, VV. Can you believe they almost didn't release Hugo in India? It's just ending its two- or three-week run.Girish Shahanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877402074547726173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024210672199702325.post-51052567796245807382012-05-24T11:54:50.349+05:302012-05-24T11:54:50.349+05:30Great review. Hugo became one of my favorite movie...Great review. Hugo became one of my favorite movies of all time as soon as I saw it. It has been a long time since I was so deeply moved by a movie. Every character- including Borat!- touched something. And as you put it, the realization of the *impermanence* of magic and enchantment creates such a profound and gut-wrenching experience. It made me think of all the things that I had found so magical at some point but it remains an unsharable enchantment today, because the time has passed. And the opening scene ... breathtaking is right .... Scorcese, for all his disavowal of 3D, managed to show in that one scene how 3D is meant to be experienced (as opposed to James Cameron et al's simplistic use of 3D to create quick, shocking movements aimed at the audience). And I became quite obsessed with automatons and Melies (and others experiementing with photography and moving images) :):). The kinds of automatons using simple gear technology centuries ago is astonishing! -- VVVVnoreply@blogger.com